In Memory of James Buford LevitzA Deering Trade Card (circa 1890), included in the online collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society. Novelty trade card advertising harvesting machinery manufactured by William Deering and Company. At close

Esther: Her Story

Jul 3rd, 2012 46m 55s

In which we are introduced to some of the principal characters of these tales----the Peddler and Captain Maximillian Robin among them-----and the recurring themes of America’s distressed abundance, our woods and wealth ripped out of the earth,

Myth of Nikciamtca'c (told 1890) 2

Jul 3rd, 2012 12m 7s

(corresponding to “Esther: Her Story”)You will see that it is loosely inspired, although the mood and quality of magical absurdity is kept, I hope.Again, we see these abstractions in terms of our own concrete images. Whether it is people who a

The Myth of Perpetual Motion

Jul 3rd, 2012 33m 16s

This is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, one of several models of self-sustaining rotaries, which he proposed for perpetual motion. His experiments, however, displeased him and he declared: "Oh, ye seekers after perpetual motion, how many vain

Sun Myth (Told 1891)

Jul 3rd, 2012 12m 43s

(corresponding to “Myth of Perpetual Motion”)The myth of capturing the sun or capturing fire is a myth of human transformation. Man claims a place in the cosmos no other can attain, but also pays a price for it. The traditional Pacific Northwe

The Story of the Bride

Jul 3rd, 2012 23m 25s

The song in this story----Wildwood Flower----is now a traditional “folk song,” but was composed as parlor music by J. P. Webster, living in Elkhorn, Wisconsin at the time, shortly before the Civil War. The original lyrics by Maud Irving were s

Myth of the Swan (Told 1894)

Jul 3rd, 2012 7m 28s

(corresponding to “The Story of the Bride”)Women are central to the myths told by Mrs. Wilson. They control the plot. They dominate the characters. Their interests and virtues are foremost.Once again, we find out how important it is not to b

Catching Sky

Jul 3rd, 2012 27m 9s

“Hope is the Heart in the Body of Belief.”In which we learn how the peddler made Maximilian Robin the man he became and why he hated water, how Amy was a singer and Amy was a dancer, and how love can split you in two.

The Copper is Speared (Told 1894)

Jul 3rd, 2012 7m 30s

(corresponding to “Catching Sky”) In which we learn how birds get their colors and why you ought not to trust little girls who go digging for roots that aren’t really good to eat.

Fabulous Masked Man (Part I)

Jul 3rd, 2012 30m 54s

In which we are introduced to Chicago, city of America’s Will, Heart, Muscle, and Nerve. In the mighty words of Carl Sandburg:“They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I have seen your painted women under the gas lamps luring the fa

Fabulous Masked Man (Part II)

Jul 3rd, 2012 24m 24s

In which the adventures of the masked man begin and end.“A hero cannot be a hero unless in an heroic world.”Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Raccoon (told 1891)

Jul 3rd, 2012 17m 3s

(corresponding to “Fabulous Masked Man”) From Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Act II, Scene I:THIRD FISHERMAN.... Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.FIRST FISHERMAN.Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can comp

How to Make a Buck (First Version)

Jul 3rd, 2012 37m 36s

In which we are introduced to Mr. Kite and Mr. Boyd, better known as Even and Odd, and the enterprise of logging and those occupations which supported it. In Wisconsin and Minnesota white pine forests covered better than half of the entire terr

Myth of the Coyote (told 1891)

Jul 3rd, 2012 11m 31s

(corresponding to “How to Make a Buck----First”) John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of Kellogg’s corn flakes, a vegetarian, and a guru of health and the mind cure movement which dominated popular culture in America of the late nineteenth century

How to Make a Buck (Second Version)

Jul 3rd, 2012 10m 57s

Image is the botanical drawing of American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius), an herbal native to Wisconsin, but related to the Asian ginseng (Panax Ginseng), which grows wild in Northern Manchuria and has been harvested there for thousands of year

Myth of the Salmon (Told 1891/1894)

Jul 3rd, 2012 17m 36s

(corresponding to “How to Make a Buck----Second”) Two variations of the myth are presented. Both tell the tale of how the salmon came into the river. Both begin with the notion that the people were dying of hunger and ate roots, before the sal

Monsters Today (or All the World is Paper)

Jul 3rd, 2012 34m 17s

Of the monsters told in this tale, I believe you can find further information on the internet concerning the common Hodag and Wobblecat. The Hidebehind is rarely spoken of out-loud and is not to be found there. The mysterious bayl is not a cr

The Myth of the Elk (Told 1894)

Jul 3rd, 2012 13m 46s

(corresponding to “Monsters Today...”) Because we live in a world that is largely man-made, in which our needs are fulfilled by intercession of a society that is the predominant reality of our lives, we are not aware how monstrous, irrational,

Southwest Wind - Being the True Account of October 8, 1871 (Part I)

Jul 3rd, 2012 41m 58s

The Motto of the  graduating class of ’96 was:  “Vim, Vigor, Victory.”Badger State Banner18 June 18961896 was the last year of a severe depression that had begun with the bank Panic of 1893. At its height 19% of American workers had lost jobs,

Southwest Wind - Being the True Account of October 8, 1871 (Part II)

Jul 3rd, 2012 44m 41s

“It was the completeness of the wreck; the total desolation which met the eye on every hand; the utter blankness of what had a few hours before been so full of life, of associations, of aspirations, of all things which kept the mind of a Chicag

Southwest Wind - Being the True Account of October 8, 1871 (Part III)

Jul 3rd, 2012 37m 56s

Chicago was rebuilt. The Palmer House was rebuilt immediately. Reopened in less than two years, it was built bigger—three-times bigger—and more ostentatious, more luxurious than ever: oversized over-decorated suites; a grand restaurant with a

Myth of Southwest Wind (Told 1894)

Jul 3rd, 2012 10m 50s

(corresponding to “Southwest Wind...”) Wind is a word we took from Norsemen when they invaded England in the ninth century.Window is another word that we took from these Norse invaders, and which contains the word wind, and is related to it. W

The Bird-Headed Woman

Jul 3rd, 2012 37m 27s

We are aware of consciousness in many forms, including that which is not conscious, which we call sleep, where time is forgotten. If remembered for its moments, it is the remembrance we call dreams and these seep back into that forgetfulness l

Myth of Aq-asXe-nasXena (told 1890)

Jul 3rd, 2012 21m 13s

(corresponding to “The Bird-Headed Woman”) Aq!asXe’nasXena, the name of the one whom I call the Bird-headed Woman in my rendition, is an untranslated name, now untranslatable name. To what it refers was not known by Boas or his confidant, Char